Listen here.

John 14:1-14—“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”

⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

¹²“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

I want to tell you a little bit about how I prepare my sermons.

The first couple of days in my work week are spent studying the text. I read it often. I read the other texts appointed for the week trying to see how they shed light on the sermon text. I plow through the original language trying to find some of the major words and phrases that are being highlighted. I read commentary after commentary after commentary. I read and listen to sermons on the text as well.

I try to find things in the text that shed new light on the passage. My goal in all of this is to write a sermon that will deliver Jesus to you and to me. I am always blessed by all the studying and grappling with the text. I need to hear these sermons, and I am blessed by them.

As your pastor, I covet your prayers, and I know that many of you are very faithful about praying for me and my family. This was an extremely hectic and rough week for me personally. And this sermon, more than any of the 289 others I have preached here in the past four years and five months, is what I need to hear today.

My prayer, as always, is that it is a blessing for you as well.

“Let not your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says to the disciples. But why would the disciples’ hearts be troubled? They are troubled because of what Jesus said just a few moments before in Jn. 13:33, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you and where I am going you cannot come.” Where is He going? He is going away. He is going to the cross, to His death, to His tomb, to the resurrection.

The disciples cannot go with Jesus. He is going the way in which they cannot go. He is going to accomplish the salvation that they need and that you and I need.

So Jesus comforts them. “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

Jesus promises that He is going to prepare a place for the disciples. The first seven verses of our text have been read at almost every funeral I have done. They are comforting words that Jesus gives. The words promise God’s protection and abiding care through eternity.

But Jesus goes on. “Let not your hearts be troubled,” because Jesus promises the disciples that He is in the Father. The words that He has spoken in the past and that He is speaking now are the words that God the Father wants Him to speak.

But Jesus still goes on. “Let not your hearts be troubled,” because Jesus promises that the disciples will do even greater works than He has done during His ministry. He invites them to remember that He has healed the sick, opened the ears of the deaf, restored sight to the blind, and even raised the dead. But the disciples will still do even greater works. How foolish we often are looking and waiting for spectacular things to happen while we close our eyes and neglect to see the works Jesus is doing right here – delivering words of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

But Jesus still doesn’t stop there. “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Jesus makes a reckless promise that whatever His disciples ask in His name – whatever they ask – He will do it so that God will be glorified. Do we really believe that whatever we ask in Jesus’ name He will give us? We should. Jesus is not a liar; He is a man of His word.

This world is filled with troubles and sin and death. This world throws all sorts of sufferings and crosses that trouble our hearts. But Jesus’ words in this text show that no matter what comes our way, God is using them to conform us, His chosen, elect children, into the image of His Son. “For neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro. 8:38-39).”

“Let not your hearts be troubled.” Jesus wants us to know that He will lead us to His presence. Jesus wants us to know God’s loving heart which was willing to sacrifice His only Son for us. Jesus wants us to know that because of His grace all is well for us both in this life and the next.

“Let not your hearts be troubled.” Believe in God; believe in Jesus. Those are His words for us today. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.